What the Press won't tell you!
This election was a sea-change in the
spiritual future of Australia. The time of Christian retreat from un-godly
social engineering is over. The time of handing over our politics and
business to pagan activists is over. The separation of the sacred and the
secular is over.
Colossians 1:15-20 states that Jesus is pre-eminent in all things.
He is the head, not the tail.
God is making his own rightful call on
the nation and this election saw the tide change towards God. A new emergence
of pro-active Christian involvement in the political marketplace is under
way. Here are some key aspects of what the electorate delivered:
The re-election of leaders who honour God
John Howard, Prime Minister:
"I think it’s fair to say that both
my own upbringing which I come from the Methodist tradition of the Christian
church. Although when I do go to church now, which is more often than
Christmas and Easter, but certainly not once a week. I tend to go to an
Anglican church. I don’t really care what denomination it is...
I’m not perfect. I’m very wary of people who
too frequently parade virtue but I try and live according to those
principles, and try to transmit them to my own children...
No my fundamental values haven’t changed.
My belief in the centrality of the family, my very strong belief in private
business enterprise, my very strong belief in the stabilising influence of
the Judaeo-Christian ethic in this country."
John Anderson, Deputy Prime Minister:
"If you look at the secularisation of the
West, if you’re going to say no there’s no higher authority you’re going to
end up where the fascists did if you’re logical about it. You’re going to
say there’s no morality that can be proven to be right or wrong or have any
great claim to substance other than the struggle for power, and I can’t go
there. So I’d better go back again and have a look at what I really can
believe. And I found that what I really can believe, because it’s so
incredible it has a ring of truth about it, is the Christian message...
We need a story. I think one of the great
problems in modern wealthy, material Australia – and I think this really
blights to our young people – is we have no story. What do we offer them?
You know you’re a glorified ape because that’s what we think we are. And the
great ambition in life is to be wealthy and have a, you know, a 4 bedroom
house with a, you know, two cars and a garage to put em in by the time
you’re 25. It doesn’t fill the soul, it doesn’t work, it’s not enough.
Lovely to have, not knocking it. A prosperous society is a great thing. But
it’s not enough...
Most people describe themselves as agnostic.
Well that to me is sitting on the fence. And I would say to people, well get
involved in a quest for truth."
Mark Latham, Leader of the Opposition:
"Yeah, I’m a humanist, yeah that’s a good
description of my philosophy. It’s the human desire to want to be part of
society. What does that mean? It means a society where we build self-esteem
by helping others and then having that assistance reciprocated."
Click
here for full text of Geraldine Doogue's interviews with the leaders of
the major political parties, their religious background, their beliefs, their
ethical framework and how these inform their decision making as
politicians.
Critical Issues in this Election
Defence of Marriage
The Howard Government recently took the initiative to
defend the Biblical view of marriage. The newly
re-elected government will continue to defend the nation from social
engineering coming from the libertarian left.
Mark Latham's "ladder of opportunity"
Coming from a humanist this is nothing more
than a resurgence of 17th century thinking from the period of enlightenment...
which largely destroyed the Christian faith in Europe. The fundamental
precept of this ideology is that we don't need God and through education and
science we can create 'nirvana' ourselves.
Labour's proposed national Racial and
Vilification Bill
This shocking legislation mitigates against
freedom of speech and the principle of being innocent until proven guilty.
It has the in-built capacity to make it illegal to declare sin wrong in a
public place.
Iraq and Terrorism
Labour proposed pulling our troops out of
Iraq and fighting the war against terror in our region alone. We are in
world war 111, where the freedom of democratic nations is under attack by extremists
who operate on a global basis. We have to play our part by resisting terror
at its roots - and this effort has been focussed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The basis of this war is not a matter of some
link with WMD's - it's spiritual. Saddam is an evil madman who was seeking
to rebuild Babylon and who rewarded attacks on Israel. He lobbed SCUD missiles
on Jeddah and Tel Aviv. He gassed 80,000 Iranians. He gassed the Kurds. He
invaded Kuwait. He tortured his own people. He ejected UN weapons inspectors
from Iraq. His time was up - and three
Christian leaders put this criminal in gaol. Free nations now have to work together to
bring peace and democracy to Iraq. You can't achieve this from Australia
alone.
Acting for good in our Region
The Howard Government sent Australian troops
and Federal police to act against insurrection, injustice and anarchy in
Timor, the Solomon's and Papua New Guinea.
Asylum Seekers
The Howard Government protected the borders
of Australia and ended the injustice of people smugglers illegally bringing
asylum seekers into Australia - while those who applied through approved
processes were bypassed. At the same time the refugee immigration rate was doubled
and asylum seeker processing became more humane under public
pressure.
Click here
for a table of other significant Christian values at risk in this election.
Click
here for supporting statements. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required,
click here for free download).
Christian Marketplace Organisations
I would especially like to thank Jim Wallace
from the
Australian Christian Lobby for his tremendous efforts in galvanising
Christians in Australia to get involved in the political process. No one
should underestimate the value and extent of Jim and his team in the work
they have done for the
good of Australia.
This election has also been a great start for
the Family First Party who have been raised up in a very short time to swing
the balance of power in Federal and State parliaments towards God honouring
parties and policies.
In addition I would like to express my
personal
thanks to Salt Shakers, National Marriage Coalition, National Alliance of
Christian Leaders, Australian Federation for the Family, Family Council of
Victoria, Family Council of Queensland, Praise Corroboree, Australian
Indigenous Christian Ministries, Australian Indigenous Prayer Network,
Combined Multicultural Christian Community, Life Ministries, WA, Transforming
Melbourne and to all those who took the nation to heart in prayer.
You may not agree with every observation in
this reflection. That is why these reflections were not transmitted
pre-election, as AMC is not a political organisation. However we do seek to
stimulate prophetic and prayerful involvement in the marketplace issues of
everyday life.
Peter Kentley
This article may be reproduced in its original form with credit and links to AMC.
This month:
Melbourne Prayer Breakfast
Friday 29th October, 7 - 9am
Speaker: Margaret Court
Music: Marina Prior
Optional open seminars 9:30 - 10:30 am:
